Government is engaging South African authorities in a bid to strengthen protections for local migrant workers following growing concerns over exploitation, trafficking and abuse in sectors such as mining, forestry, agriculture and domestic work.
Commissioner of Labour Kingdom Mamba revealed this move in response to a statement by the Human Rights Association (HRA), a Cape Town-based organisation operating under the WeCare Foundation, which raised alarm over labour brokers allegedly trapping Emaswati workers in exploitative working arrangements inside South Africa’s formal industries.
The organisation alleged that desperate job seekers were being recruited through deception, charged illegal recruitment fees and placed into conditions resembling forced labour in mines, timber operations, farms and domestic service.
Now, in an official response to the statement, government said the allegations are being treated as a matter of grave concern.
“Government takes seriously the concerns raised by the Human Rights Association regarding the reported exploitation and abuse of local workers employed in South Africa,” Mamba said.
He said reports of unsafe working conditions, underpayment, human trafficking, confiscation of travel documents and other forms of exploitation had triggered renewed engagement with South Africa on labour migration governance and worker protection mechanisms.
At the centre of government’s efforts, he said, was a move to revive the Joint Bilateral Commission on Cooperation (JBCC) between Eswatini and South Africa, a formal intergovernmental platform designed to coordinate cooperation on issues ranging from labour migration and border management to trade, health and infrastructure development.
According to him, the JBCC agreement, which was signed in 2010 for a four-year term, expired in 2019 and is now in the process of being renewed through the ministry of foreign affairs and international cooperation.
Mamba said the platform would allow both countries to directly address concerns affecting local workers in South Africa, including recruitment practices, occupational safety, working conditions, compensation, documentation and social protection.
“Government considers the JBCC an important diplomatic and technical mechanism for advancing the welfare and protection of Emaswati workers employed in South Africa,” Mamba stated.
The developments emerge against the backdrop of worsening economic pressures in the country, where unemployment, particularly among young people, continues pushing thousands to seek work opportunities across the border.
For decades, South Africa’s mines, farms and forestry operations have absorbed large numbers of local migrant workers.
However, rights organisations increasingly argue that shrinking economic opportunities and the rise of informal recruitment networks have created conditions ripe for exploitation.
In its intervention, the HRA alleged that labour brokers operating near border communities were targeting vulnerable job seekers, charging recruitment fees and placing workers into exploitative arrangements where many allegedly end up without contracts or meaningful legal protection.
According to the commissioner of labour, many locals crossing into South Africa do not declare that they are employed there, often because they lack the required work permits.
In response, he said government was now strengthening labour migration data collection, monitoring and coordination systems in an effort to improve evidence-based policymaking and worker protection interventions.
Mamba also outlined a broader reform agenda aimed at tightening labour migration governance, including the National Labour Migration Policy launched in 2025 together with an implementation plan intended to promote safe, orderly, regular and rights-based labour migration.
To oversee implementation, authorities established a National Labour Migration Policy Steering Committee bringing together government ministries, employers’ organisations, workers’ representatives, civil society and non-governmental organisations.
The labour commissioner said the committee is currently working with the International Labour Organisation (ILO) and International Organisation for Migration (IOM) to identify legal and institutional gaps ahead of the possible ratification of key international labour migration conventions.
These include ILO Convention No. 97 on Migration for Employment, Convention No. 143 on Migrant Workers and Convention No. 181 on Private Employment Agencies.
Mamba argued that ratifying those conventions would strengthen the country’s ability to negotiate labour agreements and worker protection frameworks with other countries.
At legislative level, he made it known that government was also in the process of enacting the Employment Bill No. 12 of 2024, which seeks to formally recognise and provide protections for migrant employees, an area he highlighted as inadequately addressed under the Employment Act of 1980.
